SAG Awards 2014: What time is the show?

Lupita Nyong'o in the historic drama "12 Years a Slave," as Patsey, a role that earned her a SAG nod for female actor in a supporting role.

Lupita Nyong'o in the historic drama "12 Years a Slave," as Patsey, a role that earned her a SAG nod for female actor in a supporting role. (Francois Duhamel / Fox Searchlight)

By Christy Khoshaba

If you're still catching up with the recently aired Golden Globe Awards and Thursday's Oscar nominations, you'd better hurry. The Screen Actors Guild Awards will creep up on you before you know it. But don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

The SAGs will air live from the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles on Saturday at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST on TBS and TNT.

Before we get any further, let’s answer this: What exactly are the SAGs? Simply put, they are awards chosen for actors by other actors. The awards distinguish excellence in movies and television. The SAG-AFTRA union has more than 165,000 members. Of that, 2,100 members vote for the award nominees.

And when actors vote for actors, as Gold Standard columnist Glenn Whipp points out, there is bound to be love for the movies with super-sized casts. Fittingly, the SAGs recognize ensemble casts instead of best picture and TV series categories.

Coming out on top this year is Steve McQueen’s historical drama “12 Years a Slave,” earning four nominations, including ensemble, male actor in a leading role and female actor in a supporting role. A trio of other films -- Jean-Marc Vallee’s biopic drama “Dallas Buyers Club,” John Wells’ dark comedy “August: Osage County” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” -- collected three nominations each. Meanwhile, David O. Russell’s con-artist comedy “American Hustle,” Paul Greengrass’ sea thriller “Captain Phillips” and Alexander Payne’s black-and-white on-the-road film “Nebraska” picked up two nods apiece.

Turning to TV, drama cable favorites like “Homeland,” "Boardwalk Empire" and “Breaking Bad” led the way. Netflix was also part of the pack, picking up nominations for “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development.” On the comedy side, “30 Rock,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Modern Family" scored several nominations.

As for the television movie or miniseries category, HBO paved the way with nominations for biopics like “Phil Spector” and “Behind the Candelabra.” Other nominees include the Sundance miniseries “Top of the Lake,” Lifetime TV movie “Betty and Coretta” and BBC film “Burton and Taylor.”

Think there are some snubs or surprises within these categories? Like nominations for Martin Scorsese’s corporate greed tale “The Wolf of Wall Street” or Matthew Weiner’s period drama “Mad Men?” Take a look at our snubs and surprises gallery here.

And check out our photo gallery of top nominees here, with a complete list here.

When it comes time to pass out the awards, a handful of presenters will do the honors. This year’s roundup includes Meryl Streep, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mindy Kaling among others. Check out our SAG presenters gallery here, made up of portraits taken by The Times.

Rita Moreno will be honored during the ceremony with a Life Achievement Award. Speaking of awards, we wish we could give you an award, but sadly we can’t. What we can do, however, is offer you up-to-the-minute coverage of the SAGs, from red carpet arrivals and show highlights to quotes from the stars and analysis of the evening.

Explore the red carpet as Oprah Winfrey greets spectators, the cast of Breaking Bad poses for a group photo and celebrities mingle inside the Shrine Auditorium at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. More photos